Torie tucked her hand into the crook of Joe’s arm. “Let’s get some dinner. I’m starved.”
She should have made it clear she and Joe were just friends.
Chapter 19
She didn’t want to go in.
Torie stared at the door and then at the key in her shaking hand.
Joe took the key from her. “Let me check it out first.”
She let him open the door and step inside while she waited in the hall. At dinner she’d gotten a text from her dad that the suite had been cleared by the police and cleaned. She knew he had lit a fire under some people to get it done. She should have known her dad would make sure she wasn’t tempted to stay at the cottage tonight.
Lights came on in the suite, and she heard Joe opening doors and rummaging through the two rooms before he reappeared in the doorway. “All clear.”
“Thank you. Want to come in? I can order up dessert.”
Joe glanced at his feet for a moment. “After the day I had, I’m about asleep on my feet so I’d better get home.”
The pang of disappointment surprised her. “I understand. We’re still on for diving?”
“Yeah. I thought we’d go to the HLHA.”
She’d heard of the artificial reef. It was supposed to be awesome diving. “Sounds great. I’ll see you in the morning.” She gave him a nod good-bye, then slipped into her room.
She locked the dead bolt and the chain, then checked out the suite for herself. All clear. The scent of new carpet erased the memory of the smell of blood from the night before. She went to the connecting door and opened it, but her dad’s side was closed.
She tapped on it. “Hello?” When he didn’t answer, she tapped again. Were there voices on the other side? She probably should have texted him first. Maybe Matthew was there, and he was the last person she wanted to talk to again.
The door swung open, and Torie took a step back when she saw her aunt’s angry face. The voices had been the television. Her dad was nowhere to be found. Had Aunt Genevieve waited for her to show up like a spider lurking in its own web?
It was all going to come out now. It had to.
“You’re fired. I suspected it last night after I heard about this door being open. I won’t have Anton being taken advantage of by some little twit who fancies herself as the next Bergstrom.”
“I don’t think so. You don’t have the authority to fire me.”
Her aunt’s eyes widened. “If you think Anton will be able to save your job, you’re quite mistaken. He lets me run this hotel as I see fit. Once you’re gone, he’ll forget all about you. Pack your things and get out.”
“I’m already a Bergstrom. I’m Victoria, Anton’s daughter. I’m surprised you didn’t recognize your own niece, Aunt Genevieve.”
Her aunt went white and swayed. Torie grabbed her arm to steady her, but she shook it off.
“You’re lying,” her aunt whispered.
“Look at me. Do you honestly not see the family resemblance? I look so much like Mom, at least that’s what Dad says. And do you really think my father is so weak that he’d be dallying with a woman my age? You don’t think much of him, do you?”
Her aunt brushed past her and went to drop into the armchair by the fireplace. “This is an outrage! Why are you here under false pretenses?” She picked up a travel magazine and fanned herself with it. Her color still hadn’t come back.
How much of the truth should she spill? Torie followed her aunt and sat across from her on the love seat. “Lisbeth Nelson.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She was my best friend. If you think back hard enough, you would recognize her name. We played together every summer, and she was my roommate at boarding school and later at college. Her death rocked me, and I wanted to find out what happened.”
Her aunt’s hazel eyes narrowed. “She drowned herself. Everyone knows it, so I fail to see how it was worth all this subterfuge. All this lying to your own aunt!”
Torie should have known her aunt would react this way. “I’ve never known Lisbeth to be depressed, and I know for sure she would never go in the water. She was terrified of the ocean. I have to find out the truth.”
She didn’t want her aunt to know that Lisbeth was here to find out what happened to Torie’s mother, though it might come to that eventually. Torie would need to ask her aunt questions at some point. But not tonight when she was already tired and upset from Bella’s death.
“Do you have any idea why Bella would have been in my suite last night?”
Her aunt’s mouth gaped. “You think Bella’s death had something to do with your ridiculous quest? It was nothing of the kind. I sent her up here to leave a fruit basket. Anton made me feel guilty about the way I’d treated you, and I wanted to make amends. How ridiculous now that I know. Why didn’t you tell me straight up who you were? This spy stuff makes no sense.”
Torie could hardly tell her she trusted no one who worked here—not even her aunt. “The fewer people who knew, the more I thought I’d be able to get answers. If employees knew I was a Bergstrom, they might clam up and not tell me any suspicions they had.”
“I see.” Her aunt heaved a sigh. “That makes sense, I suppose.” She looked around the room. “Now I understand why Anton insisted you have this room.”
“Where is he?”
“Eating a late dinner with Matthew Cunningham.” Her eyes narrowed. “Is Matthew here to see you too?”
“No. He had no idea I was here.”
Her aunt rose and went past her, leaving a lingering scent of lavender. “I’ll have to digest all this. I must say I’m disappointed in you, Victoria. Good night.”
Not half as disappointed as Torie was at knowing her cover was blown and it would be doubly hard to get to the bottom of Lisbeth’s death.
* * *
The last thing Torie wanted to do after the confrontation with her aunt was go to sleep.
She smacked her pillow into a better shape and lay staring at the dark ceiling. Her mind spun like lights from a disco ball. Her aunt would never keep this quiet, and everything would change. By this time tomorrow all of the hotel staff would know she was Victoria Bergstrom, heir to the massive Bergstrom Hospitality empire. They’d wonder why she was here under false pretenses, and she wouldn’t be able to tell them, not really. It was something much too private to bandy around in a gossip session.
And Joe. He didn’t know she’d been lying to him all this time either.
She rolled to her side and thumped the pillow again.
Her dad had tried to tell her this had been a stupid idea in the first place. She was no detective and her computer knowledge wasn’t enough to get to the bottom of Lisbeth’s death. Now she’d messed up her friendship with Joe. He wouldn’t take kindly to the fact she’d hidden her identity from him.
She glanced at the bedside clock. The numbers flipped to just after two, and she still wasn’t the least bit sleepy. It was much too late to call and talk to him too.
She threw off the covers and slid her feet to the floor. There was unlikely to be anyone roaming the hallways this late. What if she went into her family’s former living quarters at the other end of the hall?